thank you for joining us. we will start with iran making serious accusations against the u.s. claiming it shot down an unmanned american spy drone flying over iranian air space. they say the thrown drone is in the hands of the iranian military. alternate came forward with a possible explanation. barbara starr is joining me live from washington. between iran and alternate there are two different stories about this drone. >> reporter: there are indeed, don. good evening. iranian authorities are saying they did shoot down a highly-classified unmanned spy plane over their territory along the eastern border with afghanistan. iran says the drone was an rk-170. that's one of the most secret drones in the u.s. military and intelligence arsenal, essentially a stealth drone, flies undetected, gathering intelligence and targeting information. what is the u.s. say something so far the u.s. is using the

alternate aplooins lines in afghanistan to issue a statement is only saying the uav which the iranians may be referring to may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan last week. the operators of the uav lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status. that is what the u.s. is saying about all of this, a loss of flight controls before the drone went down. but what the u.s. isn't saying is that it was shot down or one of the highly classified drones. the key question is do the iranians have their hands on classified u.s. intelligence technology? >> let's talk more about the pentagon's concerns. how concerned is the pentagon about losing a drone in iran? >> well, look, when things like this typically happen, and they do, a helicopter sadly goes down, a drone, an aircraft, what usually happens is the u.s. will

very quickly call in an air strike. it will bomb the wreckage and if it is in afghanistan or iraq in recent years because they don't want insurgents to get their hands on that technology. that's off the table. don't look for an air strike in iran. what the u.s. wants to determine at this hour is what does iran have its hands on. is there a wreckage, is it partially intact? could shthey get access on the classified sensors and what can they get out of this if they have their hands on it. >> you said when this typically happens, what happened this past so it is not the first time that iran claimed it shot down a u.s. drone. so what happened with those past claims? >> well, to be clear. and thank you for asking. ones i was talking about is afghanistan and iraq. the u.s. could in recent years go in and bomb the wreckage. you are right. iran has made these claims

before. some of them have been outright proven to be false, according to u.s. officials, and it has never been acknowledged that a u.s. drone has gone missing inside of iran. so, this statement today is very interesting for what it says, acknowledging that it appears to be possibly the drone that the iranians are talking about. the u.s. is not dismissing it out of hand but they are not saying it was shot down. the only acknowledgment from the u.s. military tonight is that a drone lost flight control, went missing. they don't have their hands on the wreckage, though. >> barbara star, appreciate your reporting. thank you very much. we will continue in washington and talk about occupy protesters in washington. they face off with police leading to several arrests. and the standoff was over this wooden structure that protesters built in a park. so, why did they put up this particular structure? let's ask athena joans who is

live at the site of the protest. why this building? >> can you hear me. >> yes. why did they put it up? >> reporter: they put it up because it is getting cold and want to hold their daily general assembly meeting in the building to talk about plans. they erected the building overnight. they said it took only an hour. they used material donated by a family in annapolis. they argue the building, the structure is temporary. police say it is illegal because it is a permanent structure. protesters say it is temporary and it can be moved and taken down in an hour. ever since this morning you have had protest evers sitting on top of this structure. as many as a dozening just sitting there all day in this standoff with police. >> athena jones reporting. >> reporter: it is unclear what will happen. we have been told by a legal observer who has been working with the group and in touch with police that police told her,

park police told her they are going to give the protesters three warnings. we're unclear when. they will give them three warnings. pretty much back to back so they can then -- after those three warning, they will be arrested. she believes the police have not yet acted because they are trying to figure out a way to savely remove the protesters from the this site. >> thank you very much. we appreciate that in suburban atlanta, one of the biggest mega church pastors in the country will be without its leader for a froo while. bishop eddie long says he is taking time off from the pulpit to attend to his family. his wife filed for divorce three days ago. it cites a bone fied status separation, a marriager retrievably broken and no help of reconciliation. a statement said sh she changed her mind about the divorce. but her attorney disavowed that

statement. >> we are not hiding nothing or anything like that. i'm going to take a little time off to work with my family. >> reporter: so the church says long is not quitting. long's problems began last year when four young men accuse him of coercive sexual relationships. the pastor denied the allegations but quietly settled the lawsuit out of court. much more on the next hour. john blake, who writes about religion for cnn.com will be our guest. you don't want to miss that conversation. it is a great scene anytime of the year, but during the holiday it is even sweeter. u.s. servicemen and women arriving home from iraq. we will take you to the atlanta here in atlanta for the smiles, tears and hugs. all in two minutes.

emotional home comings across the country as thousands of u.s. troops return home from iraq. troops from ft. hood, texas got a rock star welcome this weekend. there were plenty of smiles and tears as service members were reunited with their family members after a ten-month tour of duty. here was a scene in the san mateo, california area, where dozens of members of the national guard returned home. family members gathered for the homecoming and cheered when their loved ones arrived. this was the last national guard unit to leave iraq. all 11,000 troops will be pulled out by the end of the year and that is what makes these home

coming different than the others. this time the soldiers know they won't be send back. here's cnn's catherine callowway. >> reporter: a plane landed here at the atlanta international airport. it was full of troops from afghanistan who were heading home for a couple of weeks of r and r but also full of troops from iraq who are heading home for good and we talked to a few and here's what they had to say. >> how do you feel about not going back to iraq. it is a difficult deployment. you are all smiling but what are your thoughts on that? >> it was nice to see trees and grass when we were landing. it is the little things you miss the most, plumbing. >> reporter: did you say plumbing? >> yes. it will be nice to take a shower in the house instead of walking outside to take a shower. >> reporter: of course you missed your families. you talked about your children. >> my children. been constantly in touch with them thanks to the uso that provided free internet and phone service and mostly you appreciate the little stuff at

home. the freedom to walk to the store and buy whatever you want. not to have to wait until the deac opens. freedom is priceless. >> what is the best thing coming home from iraq? >> i hope the last ten years will be worth it. after 9/11 i was deployed, mobilized right after, the next day. hopefully now we come back and end the mission and it will be worth it, i hope. >> reporter: so they are well on their way home now. they will be redeployed but not sent to iraq. this is the scene we will see repeated many times between now and the end of the year a as the approximately 11,000 u.s. troops that have been in iraq will be reduced to less than 200 by the end of the year. at the atlanta international airport, catherine callaway, cnn atlanta. >> thank you very much for that. ever wonder what it would be like to have dinner with trend

setters, superstars, and hollywood royalty? tonight check out a larry king special, dinner with the kings. he sits down with conan o'brien, tyra banks, shaquille o'neal, seth mcfarland, quincy jones, russell brand and twitter founder jack dorsey for sometimes funny, sometimes serious discussions. >> when i did my show, created my show, whatever, i also created a persona on "top model." it is a character. when i am sitting there with all of this makeup on and talking all of that and reprimanding the girls. that is a character. i don't do that. in real life, i'm like passive aggressive. i'm anti-confrontational. i'm even in coaching to learn to be confrontational. so it is a character. >> one of the girls who must have been 16, 17 years old said to me, how do you get over your

insecurity? when does that go away? i said you never get over it. and she was shocked. she is looking at me and i have been doing this a long time and to her i may as well be a thousand years old, even though i'm only in my early 30s but she said how do you get over your insecurity and i said it is never going away. if you are any good at what you do you will always be afraid and always think you are fooling everyone. >> this will definitely make you see these kings and queens, you saw tyra there holding court. surprise. of their professions in a new light. dinner with the kings premiers at 8 p.m. eastern here on cnn. that will be interesting to watch. the herman cain train has derailed. now the big question is who will get his supporters that fell off the train? michele bachmann said they are moving to her side already. we'll discuss after the break.

[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save

up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply.

with herman cain out of the race for the white house, he plans to endorse one of his former rivals soon. many are speculating he could go back, he could back, i should say, michele bachmann who told cnn's "state of the union" that cain's supporters were already migrating to her camp. >> herman cain brought a really important, exciting, energetic voice to the race and i think a

lot of people will be sorry to see him go. we have been talking to the herman cain campaign and i look forward to having a full conversation with him. one thing we have seen is that a lot of herman cain supporters have been calling our office and coming over to our side. i think part of that is because people see that i'm the tea party candidate in the race and saw herman cain as an outsider and i think they see my voice will be the one that will be the most reflective of his. >> let's talk more about that with cnn contributor will cain. last time i had you on thursday 0 of last week you told roland martin you were going to take him outside to the wood shed. lz is not here today. >> be careful. >> what are you doing to these people? did you beat lz up, too. >> i'm earning a reputation, don. i'm scaring them off with my sharp intellect. can't be my hustles. >> reporter: do you expect

herman cain supporters to jump to michele bachmann as she said? >> some. there are two polls out, des moines register and public policy polling. both say about 40% of herman cain supporters say newt gingrich as their second choice. we should stop and marvel at that absurd di. those whory tracted to the i ultimate outsider l will for ultimate insider herman cain. >> if you think about it, the thing that drove herman cain out of the race were allegations of infidelity and his shenanigans with women and inning in has a laundry list of those in his past. >> right. so move to the guy with the next stemt stellar character record. it is absurd that newt gingrich is the second choice. i have to say, one thing herman cain was able to foster . one reputation or perception he was able to foster is that of conservative purity. that is something michele bachmann has been able to do as well.

she has been able to sell herself as a pure conservative. there are some supporters who did support herman cain that will move to bachmann. >> how much of a boost could that give her, considering cain's dive in the polls before his exit. i was talking to shannon travis and she said there was hardly anyone at the announcement. it wasn't a big crowd and if you talk to people that followed him days before there weren't big crowds showing up for him. >> right. honestly it is like two bank robbers sitting in a vault arguing over the split. meanwhile the bank has been robbed. ing inning in has already stolen the herman cain support. herman cain was 25 and newt was 8 and now newt is 25 and cain is 8. >> given her low poll numbers does the tea party matter in this election? >> here's the problem with that

question. here's the problem at this attempted analysis is we can't define the tea party. we have never been able to define them. it is libertarianism by another name as evidenced by rand paul support or the religious right as evidenced by michele bachmann. the tea party does swing some support and power. it is impossible to coill less. all we know is the tea party is defined by what it is not. it is not mitt romney. >> i think this is a sound byte of the day. it got my attention this morning. i want you to listen to it. some of herman cain's critic accused him of turning the gop race in to a reality show. here's what george will had to say about him this week. take a listen. >> between now and 2016 both parties have to do some thinking of whether they can develop a filter to prevent this process, particularly with mad proliferation of being hijacked

by charlottens. >> who would be one of those. >> mr. cain who used it as ba book tour. >> sometimes the hurt hurts. is that a fair criticism of herman cain? >> i think george will belongs on essentially the mt. rushmore of conservative thought, conservative writing and punditry. he is the most consistently right, consistently correct thinker on the right side and he is right and it is fair but hooefz here's my criticism of george will. could have said this sooner. this was apparent much koon sooner. herman cain it became clear was not running for president and he was pulling the wool over everybody's eyes by going out there. >> you said this. >> i said -- thank you. this became obvious, don. >> well, will cain, thank you very much. that's why you have no one with you, no competition. you keep beating them up.

>> no friends, no supporters, just enemies. >> that's how it is with the greatest. you will be surprised to hear who is backing the symbol of racism. i will talk to him on the other side of the break. [ alarm rings ]

[ male announcer ] take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. fixodent denture adhesive challenges you to a 12 hour hold test. ♪ thanks to its time released formula, you apply fixodent once, and it holds all day. ♪

take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. guaranteed, or your money back. ♪ and for guaranteed freshness try fixodent cleanser, plus scope ingredients.

i want you to sit back and listen to this one. pay attention. a college student from the south is standing up for the confederate flag and you may have heard it before but you have to see this young man to understand why his take is unlike the others. >> housing department wants me to take down this flag. i know it is weird because i'm black. i look at this flag, i don't see racism. i see pride, respect, southern pride. that's what i see. >> okay. so byron thomas who's 19 and black attends the university of south carolina beaufort. the school directed him to take down the flag in his window after receiving two doesen complaints and then the university took the order back saying because of the uscb's firm belief in the first

amendment and its right to free speech the university cannot and will not prohibit these or other symbols that he chooses to display. he says he will not put the flag back up. he explained his reasons for believing the con fred flag is misunderstand understood. >> i want people to see in this generation and the old generation thatty wasn't fighting for me to put the confederate flag in the window. i want my generation to know it is time to form our own opinions so we are not divide by things like the past generations were divide by. if people want racism to stop we need to stop thinking of what the past generation went through. i never experienced race anymore my life before. why do i carry on that opinion that a -- >> as a african-american, do you understand what that flag means to most african-americans and

the people who fought on the side of that flag what they represented and what they wanted from this country. >> yes, sir. during my research, i researched that and the negativity with the flag. i truly think ignorance made, gave that flag a bad name. ignorant people like the kkk. yes, sir. when they got ahold of the flag even if you research it you will see the kkk when they begun they were using an american flag. and then when the civil rights movement era and efg was happening down south, they got their hands on the confederate flag. people want to call the flag racist, you use ke then flag because they social slavery with the american flag but what flag was slavery under the most, the american flag. they had a chance but they sglnt at some point we have to accept one flag. the confederate flag was a

symbol of division for the most part and i think the american flag represents a symbol of togetherness. let me ask you this, what about as a symbol of pain, the pain the flag represents? ? i see where you are coming from if. from my point of view, why do i still have to carry those harsh feelings forward if i haven't been through -- what do i tell my kids when you see a confederate flag that person is racist. >> reporter: thomas says his parents do not support his support of the confederate flag. the university plans to have a student forum to discuss the controversy when students return from winter break. your top stories are next, including the explosive ending to the discovery of world war ii era bombs in a german town. and the unemployment rate takes a big dip. cnn managing money editor tells us if this means we are on the road to recovery. what are you looking at? don't look up there.

why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber,

which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol.

back to a developing story at the top of the newscast. occupy protesters in washington face off with police leading to several arrests. the standoff was over this

wooden structure the you are looking at right there that protesters built in the park. let's go live to athena jones. we spoke to athena earlier. you are in front of this building. why did they put up the building? what's going on there? >> reporter: we spoke to demonstrators and they say they put it up, which is a temporary structure to provide warmth. these are occupy d.c. protest evers that have been camping out a few blocks from the white house and they have been here since the beginning of october but it is colder and they want to have the structure so people can come in and have their general assembly meetings they have each day to talk about plans and what they stand for. the issue is over whether this is a temporary structure or a legal structure. police say it is illegal because it is permanent. the protesters say with we put it up over night in an hour aes time so it can be taken down in an hour it is temporary. that's the issue. we have been seeing arrests all day. in the last half hour, four more

people were arrested. you can see protesters on top of the structure. they have been up there several hours now. it looks as though something is happening here. we are seeing more police action in recent moments. i don't know if you can see behind me, this large amplered vehicle coming up. we spoke to a legal observer who's been working with the group and in touch with police who said the police were going to give these protesters three warnings in rapid succession and that if they would leave before the end of the three warnings they wouldn't be arrested and if they decide to stay they would be arrested. >> hey, athena -- >> looks like something is about to happen here. >> can you chat with uses and move up so our viewers can see what's going on. >> can you see that? >> yeah. >> i have the cameraman slide over. you are kind of in the way there. we'd like you to describe 0 what is going on behind you. >> certainly. it may be hard to see.

it is maybe hard for you to see. the legal observer who has been working with the occupy d.c. group. her group has been working with occupiers around the country. she was in touch with police earlier who said they wanted to give these people a chance to come down and avoid arrest. >> so you said there's a little more -- what are they doing? are they ordering anyone to get down? do you have any sense of what is happening? >> reporter: what we were told was going to happen is once the group, the remaining protesters with given warnings police were going to remove them. we believe the delay has been in trying to figure out a safe way to remove them from the structure. you can tell it is several feet off the ground. it can be dangerous if someone were to fall from up there. that appears to be with what they are doing now. we haven't had a lot of contact with police. they will answer basic questions

of whether there are protesters in the structure. we are told there are not. as far as we know, these last, looks like a half doesen protesters perched up on the roof those are the last ones remaining. we expect to see the police at least try to begin to remove them from up there after what's been several hours. it has been going on since 11:00 or noon or so this morning. occupy d.c.ers say tla there have been 26 arrests but we haven't don't confirmation by the police. there's been a lot of chanting. mostly calm, certainly since we arrived at three hours ago. a lot of chanting. there have been supporters throwing food to the protesters. a while ago, a safety inspector came by and put up signs warning signs, danger signs all along the edge of the structure, condemning it saying it is not safe.

so, we're going to have to wait and see what happens here. we are watching. there's been a crowd of, at one point several hundred. it has dwindled, thinned out, returned a little bit to watch the spectacle all day. >> good reporting. we won't to pay close attention to this because we saw what happened in oakland. we saw what happened in portland. we saw what happened at the campus of uc davis and the pepper spraying, what have you. this one hopefully won't turn out that way but these are a ten dip dency from what has happened in the past to turn violent. you see them throwing things. we will keep an eye on the occupy washington protest now and what appears to be a possible police standoff, a possible police standoff in the making there. we will continue with that. our athena jones is reporting. we will get to it. the headlines right now. first off, president obama has offered pakistan his condolences for the alternate attack that left 24 pakistani soldiers dead

but he is not apologizes for the assault. there are pictures taken. these are pictures taken of the outpost after it came under fire from alternate forces. the president said the u.s. is committed to a full investigation and the white house says the two agree to continue the u.s.-pakistan relationship which is critical to the security of both nations. 45,000 jemplens returned to their homes today after two world war ii era bombs and a third device were successfully dismantled. one was a 4,000 pound air mine likely dropped by the british air force. the second was produced while a fog device was destroyed. for 65 years they were hidn in the rhine river until dropping water levels exposed them. i was the largest since the end of the war. southern california can expect more of this. >> there's a massive noise and i knew something terrible had happened to the house.

>> as homeowners clean up from last week's hurricane-force winds, santa ana winds are due to kick up again. tonight, forecasters warn they could reach hurricane strength. perfect time to turn to our meteorologist jacqui jeras in the severe weather center. it is going to be as bad as last weekend? i guess it possibly could be. >> i don't think it will be that strong but still strong enough to cause a lot of problems. we are concerned there will be additional power outages and additional tree limbs down. when this is so much debrie out there, they are trying to clean up and it could be projectiles and become a dangerous situation. we have another strong high coming in from the north. this is a cold system that's going to be diving in. it will bring the off shore and santa ana winds tonight and continue in to tomorrow morning. they could gust as high as 65 miles an hour. wind advisories in the city in to los angeles. a strong wind event for you

folks, as well. on top of that, remember utah got hit hard last week. guess what we have high wind warnings in effect for the northern front range to the wasatch. when i look at salt lake city from our affiliate ksl, the governor issued a statement today, national guard has been called up to clean out that debris before the heavy winds arrive tonight. they could be pushing seriously hurricane force. on the bottom side of this system as this thing moves to the four corners region we will see heavy snow. the northern half of new mexico, southern colorado could see a foot in the high country. denver looking for three to six inches tonight and in to tomorrow. and with the strong winds travel not recommended along i-25. temperatures behind this, the coldest air of the season, don. look at the morning temperatures. five degrees in denver. 16 in salt lake city. and add in those winds and the windchill indices below zero. we are talking about temperatures 25 to 45 degrees

below where they should be. >> i'm listen ing to you and also listening to the producers and getting information. thank you. we want to go back to washington. let's get back to the park in washington where occupy protesters have been ordered to come down off of the structure they put up. we are getting information in to the cnn newsroom that they have been ordered to come down and they are starting to come down. and apparently there were, there was at least a bit of a confrontation earlier. we had video of that. you can see things being thrown on top of the roof of the structure that was put up in the park. they have been ordered to take it down and come down from the the structure. so far, i have haven't take then structure down but it appears some are coming douchbl rest assured we will continue to monitor this for you. as a matter of fact, we will have more of it for you on the other side of the break. we will monitor these pictures. don't anywhere. we will show you what is happening with occupy washington in moments. as, or annuities.

back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa.

welcome back, everyone. the week wrapped up with the unemployment rate dropping dramatically. joining us live from new york is the managing editor of cnn money.com lex harris.

we will talk about that. we will talk about the big drop and what was behind it. can we go to the occupy thing? we are following these pictures coming out of washington now. you see athena jones, who's preparing for a report right now. but you see the structure that has been built. you have been following this. economically people are concerned and upset over what they call the 1% getting everything and are basically turning their anger to wall street. where is this movement now? it is a last gasp effort or do you see it moving? >> i think it has been gaining momentum. right? we have had a lot of back and forth and wondering how they were going to make it through the winter. in fact, their message has probably gotten stronger. even we, cnn money had the opportunity last week to go down to they have office space now and we talked to -- they don't have leaders. it is still a leaderless movement but they are creating a structure how to get their message out.

it is a message you are describing about income equality, corporate interests in washington and they are getting actually louder, i think. >> they are getting louder but are they having an impact on the powers that be, the people who are in charge of the economy? is there an impact there? there is a loud voice, but are they making a difference? >> i think just creating awareness is a big part and you are getting more and more people showing sympathy for the movement. i think that's a big first step. to affect change is going to take months, i mean years. we can't get some basic changes done because it is an election year. how will we get anything meaningful thing done to satisfy what the occupy movement is all about. i think certainly people are listening and i think you will start to hear more of that in 2012. >> another complaint, too is unemployment, these people who

are out there say we don't have jobs. we don't have jobs. that's part of the 1% not having jobs. when you look at the unemployment rate, how big was the drop and is it real because a lot of people stop looking for work? >> that's right. it was definitely a very big drop. we were all there watching the numbers at 8:30, as we do the first friday of every month and to go from 9 prts to 8.6% unemployment rate was a very big deal but you are right, very quickly the story line from all of the economists we talked to were, it's good. it is getting better, but it is not good enough. when you think about it, they are looking at the jobs added. so 120,000 jobs created in the month. again, good, but really you need to see 200,000, 300,000 jobs to really be consistent with a healthy economy. and you talked about 315,000 le. that can happen for a number of

reasons. if it happened because people are discouraged and not seeing the opportunities they need that is not a good sign and why people are maybe saying it is a fluke. >> yeah. i want to ask because many people i speak to who are know it alls about the economy, to say that, they say our economy has changed. it has shifted in the way that we sort of calculate the numbers. it's shifted for goochld we will probably never see a huge drop because the metrics have changed. companies have figured out they can do more with less. so you won't see as many people, you won't see the availability of jobs as you might once have? that's obviously the big worry. we have been through big changes in the economy before. over the past few decades. some of it, some of the slow growth is a matter of time. everyone says coming out of the huge collapse we had in 2007,

going in to 2008, it was going to take seven years to ten years to get out of the problem. to have this expectation that three to four years in we would have a meaningful change, you know, i heard -- i had the opportunity to hear paul volcker the former chairman of the federal reserve speak this morning and that was the line he was saying wch are three years in and some of it is taking time and not doing policies that retard the process and slow it down. >> good information. good information. thank you lex haris thing. we threw the occupy thing on you at the last minute since it was developing and you did a great job. we appreciate it. we will follow the developments at mcpherson square park. i'm just kind of listening to see what is going on. mcpherson square park where they put up a permanent struf. they have been ordered to take it down. they are defying police's orders

and they are chanting, stay, stay, stay. we will stay with it. more after the break. re you go. driver's license. past five years' tax returns. high school report cards. and i'm gonna need to see a receipt for that watch you're wearing. you know, you really should provide us with a checklist of documents we're gonna need up front. who do you think i am? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide a checklist of the mortgage documents you'll need up front. it helps keep you in the know every step of the way. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ imagine me and you, i do ♪ i think about you day and night ♪ ♪ it's only right ♪ to think about the girl you love ♪ ♪ and hold her tight ♪ so happy together [ male announcer ] when life changes, so can your insurances needs. use travelers free guide to better coverage

to stay prepared. is your auto and home insurance keeping up with you? contact your local travelers agent, or call 800-my-coverage.

all right. you're looking at live pictures now in washington, d.c. this is mcpherson square park, where occupy protesters are facing off with police, leading to several arrests there. the standoff is over -- see that wooden structure right there? how could you miss it? it's right in the middle of your screen. they built it in the park, they've been ordered to take it down. they say, nope, not going to do it. you see them parked there on top of this structure.

our athena jones reporting live from this park right now. so, listen, they've been ordered to come down. we saw some of them coming down, but not all of them. is this a standoff now, athena? athena, are you there? so athena's not there. we'll get back to her. you can hear them doing, as they all do at the occupy, mic check, then the other person starts repeating what the other person said. here's what they're chanting about. let's listen for a second. okay. so, here we go. occupy protesters in washington and a standoff with police over this structure. we'll continue to follow it here on cnn. more at the top of the hour. let's talk a little college football right now. my lsu tigers headed to the national championship game, but

who will they play? who will they play? will it be alabama? why? they already beat them. or oklahoma state? no, why, they're much better. john wortheim ways on which team has the advantage. but first this, john, trystan eden is a self-described skateboarding punk who had several run-ins with the law as a youth, including painting graffiti on school property. but judges gave him a second chance to improve his life. and he did, eventually designing a toy for fisher price at the age of 18. now his artwork is part of a permanent collection at the new york museum of modern art. >> i'm trystan eaton, the president and creative director of thunder dog studios. there's a few projects that thunder dog has done that are basically the perfect example of what i love about doing commercial art and collaborating with brands. i was contacted by the obama campaign and i ended up creating three posters for the vote for change campaign.

to be able to be involved formally, to do something official was so cool. because it feels like you're making a piece of history. >> you can learn more about tristan on the next list with dr. sanjay gupta next sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern. you ready for your present? yeah. all right, i'll be right back. okay. ♪ [ male announcer ] sometimes the giving can be just as amazing as the gift. what do you think? [ laughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 ct 200h and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment.

i refer to her as "that woman with the great gums." as jill's dentist, i know that her gums are a foundation of a healthy smile. jill knows that, too -- so she uses crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. and it protects these other areas dentists check most. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. because healthy smiles are built on healthy gums. life opens up when you do. what makes us number one in motorcycle insurance? we love bikes. we love riders. and most of all, we love to ride. perfect hair every time. leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

all right. there was no stopping this excessive celebration at oklahoma state university last night. 13 people were hurt when osu fans rushed the home field after their trounced rival oklahoma, 44-10. well, the scene got crazy fast and espn showed the fans tearing down the goalpost. that's very dangerous. most of the people injured were trampled in the rush, but two people suffered critical injuries when they jumped or fell from a high retaining around from around the field. we'll talk more about oklahoma state and whether they should get a title shot. but first, this just moments ago. >> it's in! >> that was tiger woods ending his drought with his first tournament win in more than two years. woods shot 10 under for the

tournament, 3 under for the day to edge past zach johnson at the chevron world challenge in california. jon wortheim joins me now. here's the cover, featuring the los angeles clippers, blake griffin. okay, jon, tiger hadn't won a tournament since november 2009, right before that very public sex scandal cost him his marriage. is this win enough to say that tiger is back? >> oh, it's a great sign. i mean, no doubt, this is the best news in two years. i don't know if you'd call winning the chevron, he's back. but this has been a rough couple of years. we haven't seen a fall from grace like this for a long time, joe paterno notwithstanding. so for him, to win any event is news. we never know quite where he is physically or emotionally, but a nice way to end the year. and for him, it's something. it's a start. and with every win, you get a little more confidence. so maybe this will be helpful. can we go now to the bcs championship? people are trying to explain it

to me. i still don't get it? i'm happy either way because lsu is a lock, but in a little more than an hour, the final standings come out and we find out who they play. will it be alabama or oklahoma state? oklahoma state made a serious case last night? who's it going to be? i think it should be oklahoma state, because we already beat alabama. why go back to that? >> i totally agree. every year, we have these controversies, this is a flawed system, maybe this will finally knock some sense into them. i'm totally with you. oklahoma state should be playing this the game. we don't want two schools from the same conference, we don't want a re-match. oklahoma state's lost one game, and that was a quirky road loss, but it looks like alabama's going to have the vote. if alabama somehow wins the national champion, which would be terrible to you, they woul n wouldenn wouldenn't even win the division of their conference. it would be oklahoma state, but doesn't look good right now. >> everyone's trying to explain

it. i'm like, i don't get it. everyone asked me who i thought it should be, i said oklahoma state, it was a trouncing. is it money? just the way the system is? are these new rules and regulations? what's going on? >> it's this crazy -- you know, it's the crazy bcs algorithm and this vote is weighted this much. this is only an hour-show, so we can't talk too much about it. but alabama's only lost once, and they lost to the best team -- they lost to lsu, so in theory, they'll get more votes than oklahoma state. but it makes no sense, and again, we have this every year. and this year is no exception. and someone's going to -- oklahoma state looks like they're going to get the raw end, unfortunately. >> okay. j john wertheim, i forgot my lsu stuff, but here's my saints shirt. and there is the cover of "ss